An enthusiastic "Heck Yeah!" for the recent CNET Blog Post: "Should "open source" include open data?" In the post, author Matt Asay says:

I'm not speaking for the Open Source Initiative here, but to me this makes it critical to add open data provisions to the Open Source Definition. Why? Because open source that locks down one's data is not all that open, in the grand scheme of things.

Amen! But let's take it a step further. There are several big pieces to the vendor lock-in puzzle, and none of them are the exclusive domain of open source solutions.

Contracts are one big piece nonprofits can do better: we all need to learn how to negotiate contracts that favor our interests and protect our organizations. Another is that after you invest the time and money to implement a solution and train staff on it, you're hard pressed to switch to another option. But nonprofits do have some amount of control over both these aspects of software lock-in.

The inability to access your own data is another point all together. When you can't get your data out of a software tool easily, you can't go very far, so you are, in essence, locked in to using that tool. There hasn't been a lot of room for nonprofits to negotiate on this point.

The sector is making some headway with APIs. More vendors in the space are allowing nonprofits to access their data via APIs. But most limit what other applications they interface with, or what data you can access. And none are easy to implement.

What we all need to do is insist that our vendors behave more like Wesabe, and clearly articulate an open data strategy. Here's what they say:

• You can export and/or delete your data from Wesabe whenever you want;
• Your data is your data, not ours. Our job is to help you understand and act on your data;
• We'll keep all of your data online and accessible for as long as you have an account. No "archive access" charges;
• Any data you want us to keep private, we will.
• If a question comes up not covered by these rights, we will answer it remembering that your data belongs to you.

Does your software solution have a data bill of rights? No? Call them today. Only the squeaky wheels get oiled!